Bullock is an inspired pianist, playing with precision, passion and flare. He enjoys sharing the spiritual essence of his own music and music of the masters with a wide variety of audiences, from solo and chamber music recitals in small halls and churches to performances with orchestra in major halls. Bullock also does lecture/recitals, going through the works and explaining them before each performance. Upon request, a lecture/recital can also be adapted to specific circumstances. Church audiences often request a program with a spiritual theme that Bullock is happy to provide.
Programs can also be adapted around an educational theme. His ‘Ode to Joy’ transcription for Violin, ‘Cello, Piano and Chorus, from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, was commissioned for just such a project by a school district in France.
The Atma Trio was created in 2006, as a unique Franco-American artistic collaboration. The word atma is a Sanskrit word meaning: ‘world soul’. The Atma Trio has performed in such prestigious venues as the acclaimed international summer festival: Festival des Deux Cités, in Carcassonne, France, St. Pierre des Cuisines, Toulouse, France and Lake Wales, Florida. They have also produced a CD of Bullock’s works, entitled: Chamber Music Works. The Whitehouse-Bullock and Dimcevski-Bullock duos have received glowing press revues both in the U. S. and in Europe, and are also available for concert engagements.
Blagoja Dimcevski was born in 1950, in Macedonia, and studied at the Moscow Conservatory, with Y. I. Jankelevitch and E. A. Tchugaeva. In 1980, he completed his doctorate with Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, in London. Since 1982, Dimcevski has been concert master and soloist with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, performing the major orchestra repertoire, as well as several important violin concertos such as Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, among others.
In his thirteen years as ‘cellist of the Guild Trio, Brooks Whitehouse has performed and taught chamber music throughout the U. S. and abroad. The Guild Trio held Artists-in-Residence positions at SUNY Stony Brook, the Guild Hall in East Hampton, NY, and The Tanglewood Music Center. Whitehouse’s performances have been broadcast on WQXR’s « McGraw-Hill Young Artist Showcase », WNYC’s « Around New York, » and the Australian and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation networks. This ensemble was a winner of both the « USIA Artistic Ambassador » and « Chamber Music Yellow Springs » competitions. His principal teachers were Timothy Eddy and Norman Fischer.
On the counsel of Toulouse, France Théâtre du Capitole’s new artistic director, Frédéric Chambert, Rie Hamada and E. B. Bullock began an artistic collaboration in 2008, concentrating on Bullock’s own unique art song repertoire and the French art song repertoire. After having lived many years in the Toulouse area of France, Bullock has developed a feeling of deep passion for the moving and dramatic history of the ancient Occitanian civilization, so wonderfully represented by the captivating and endearing songs of the troubadours and their mystical quest of the sublimation of love.
Rie Hamada studied at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music with Hiroko Nakamura, graduating in 1987. She obtained a master’s degree in 1990, after which she entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. She made her operatic debut in 1991 at the Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris in Paul Dukas’s ‘Ariane et Barbebleue’ conducted by Eliahu Inbal. In 1992 she was awarded first prize in the opera category at the 19th Paris International Singing Competition. Hamada was subsequently acclaimed for her outstanding performance in the role of Mary in a performance of Honneger’s oratorio ‘Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher’ conducted by Myung-Whun Chung at the Opera du Bastille. In 1993 she took part in a European tour given by the Ensemble Intercontemporain under Pierre Boulez. She has since made frequent appearances in opera houses in France and elsewhere. In 1997 she took part in the world premiere of Philippe Manoury’s opera ‘60e Parallele’. Hamada also appeared in Japan in a performance of ‘Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher’ given by the NHK Symphony Orchestra under their conductor Charles Dutoit. She was awarded the Idemitsu Music Prize in 1997.